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Law firm escapes charges after campaign-finance probe

By Colin A. Young, State House News Service

Updated:
04/20/2018 07:30:32 AM EDT

BOSTON -- An investigation into the campaign contribution practices of a politically-wired Boston law firm has ended with investigators having found "no conclusive evidence of a crime," the Essex County district attorney's office announced Wednesday.

Thornton Law Firm, which employs former Democrat Rep. Garrett Bradley, had been under investigation after the Boston Globe and Center for Responsive Politics reported in 2016 that partners at Thornton had received reimbursements in the form of "bonuses" from the firm for political donations to mostly Democrat candidates for state and federal office.

State law prohibits political donations to candidates from businesses. Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said his office conducted "a forensic examination" of documents turned over by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance to discern "if the campaign contributions were in fact made with personal funds and not those of the Thornton Law Firm."

A certified fraud examiner spent more than 280 hours reviewing documents, the office said. "While our investigation did not find sufficient evidence to support a criminal charge, we are recommending enhancements to current state campaign finance laws to address the ambiguities in the law that gave rise to these allegations," Blodgett said.

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Blodgett's office said that it agreed with OCPF that "there was a pattern of contributions from nine current or former partners and seven of their spouses and deposits of the same or similar amounts to their accounts" but said there was not enough evidence to support the claim that the contributions were made with partnership funds.

OCPF had requested that Attorney General Maura Healey open a criminal investigation into the Thornton Law Firm and Healey referred the case to Essex County prosecutors "to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest," the Essex DA's office said.

The Sun reported previously that state Rep. Cory Atkins, D-Concord; state Sen. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover; former state Sen. Barry Finegold, who preceeded L'Italien; and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, accepted donations from Thornton. Atkins, who isn't seeking re-election this fall, L'Italien, who is running for Congress, and Ryan have since given those donations to charity. Finegold is running for his old seat.

Blodgett's office said it is recommending that campaign finance laws and regulations be amended to require an annual statement by partners, signed under the penalties of perjury, that campaign contributions were made with personal funds and not partnership funds, and that partners use their own personal checking accounts for campaign contributions.

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